Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant Part 6

"But, Miss Litman, play just one piece for me as it should be played."

She got out her most difficult music and by lamplight played it for him.

He seemed enchanted.

"Please just show me how that last part goes."

She did so, saying: "Now you try."

He played well, though he made many mistakes. As she rose to leave, the clock having struck twelve, he played a few short connected bars, the part she had found difficult, so divinely, that she said: "Do that again. You seem gifted of the G.o.ds; they have let you stumble into the perfect way."

He tried; but the way was as strangely closed as it had been opened.

"Oh! it is half past twelve! Good night, Sandy."

She went to bed; and dreamed of choirs invisible. Sandy walked up the creek until he was beyond hearing at the house; then he played "Angel Voices" as it should have been played. He came to the house, slept and dreamed; not of angel choirs, but of graceful wood nymphs; and their queen's name was Jeannette.

The following evening, Sandy got out his fiddle, saying: "This hayr fiddle is sh.o.r.e a fine box;" and he played Turkey in the Straw, improvising variations that put life into their feet and made them think dancing was close akin to worship.

"Miss Litman, will you give me another lesson?"

She declined; thinking it might lead to a misunderstanding. He might think that she desired his company; and she only liked educated men.

Sandy Blair, on December 15, 1917, left Red Bird for Louisville and on the 18th enlisted in the regular army. He was sent to Camp Taylor; and when fitted out by the supply sergeant, insisted that he must have a fit. He pursued the policy of the importunate widow so persistently that when he came forth his well developed chest, broad shoulders and lean muscular legs were so fittingly encased as to make him the most conspicuous of the four hundred and sixty "rookies" who that day had been received and outfitted.

He represented that he had been sergeant in a company of the state guards for more than two years and in order to substantiate the declaration paid his corporal to induct him to the manual of arms and follow up the introduction by several strenuous drills; in the meanwhile finding an excuse for evading the first drill or two to which his raw company was subjected; though he stood to one side watching and listening carefully.

He paid the corporal two dollars to drill him all Sunday afternoon; and when he suggested that he would be too stiff and sore to drill the following morning, answered: "Not on your tin type. I may have a rookie head but my legs are veterans. Don't think these few pranks will worry these hayr arms and legs; I have put in the last five winters swinging big fat gals. And I've got a back like a pack mule, made to tote things on; but it's never been broke to a pack saddle and never will be."

On Monday he took his place with his company and went through the drill with the snap and precision of a veteran. As intended, he caught the eye of the captain; and when he was told to step forward, saluted him like a general; and stood at attention.

"Well, my man, what experience have you had?"

"Two years as drill sergeant, Company C, ---- Regiment of the Kentucky State Guards."

"What is your name?"

"William L. Blair, though most people call me Sergeant Sandy Blair."

"Return to the ranks." (This order came near getting him-but as the captain turned away, he resumed his place in line.)

The captain looked his way and wrote something in a note book.

A few days later the company was reorganized and he was made a junior drill sergeant, the superior of the corporal who had drilled him.

The corporal considered the story too good to keep. It reached the ears of the captain and he told it to the Colonel, threatening to send Blair to the guard house. But the Colonel said: "No, send him to me."

Blair presented himself; and after a most deferential salutation, stood at attention. The Colonel leisurely looked him over. While Blair guessed the cause of the summons, he never shifted his eyes from a spot about an inch above the Colonel's head. He stood as a marble statue, and without the least change of expression; though he heard the Colonel laugh and a moment later snappily say:

"Sergeant Blair, where are you from?"

"Red Bird, Clay County, Kentucky."

"So you are an accomplished drill sergeant?"

"Have me shot as a liar, if my legs are not veterans."

"Are you a good marksman?"

"The best in America."

"Go at once to the rifle range. I'll be over shortly. We will see if you are as good a marksman as drill sergeant."

At the rifle range he found about twenty-five other soldiers who had been selected for a test of marksmanship. As the colonel and his captain had not yet arrived, he stepped up and from a dozen rifles chose one and examining it carefully appeared satisfied and laid it to one side. When the officers came up the men were informed that each was to fire five rounds at the three hundred yard target.

The Colonel turning to Blair, said: "Blair, you begin the test, as your nerve might be shattered by the strain of delay."

From the time Blair could hold a rifle out and reach the trigger he had scarcely laid one aside, except to attend a dance, eat and sleep. His first shot missed the bull's eye about an inch, the second was on the edge and all the others went square into it. He made a better score than any of his compet.i.tors. The next day he was promoted to sergeant major and made instructor on the rifle range.

On the sixth of March, 1918, his company sailed for France. In May they were doing service in the front line trenches.

After the armistice was signed, Lieutenant Blair was sent to Coblenz, Germany, where he remained until January, 1922, when he was ordered home, returning on the transport Crook. He came back as Captain Blair, of ---- Infantry. During the more than three years he was in Germany, he gave all of his leisure time to study and music; and when he left, spoke German and French fluently and played the violin like an inspired professional.

Upon arrival in New York he retired from the army; and with the recommendations given him by his general, his former colonel and the captain who wanted to send him to the guard house, who was now a major, asked and was given a position in the general offices of the Standard Oil Company. When it was discovered that he spoke German and French fluently, had considerable executive ability, particularly in handling red-blooded men; he was sent as an agent to Tampico, Mexico, to see what he could do towards straightening out the rows between the Mexican and American employees. In June he was ordered to return to New York to make a detailed report and for instructions. The officers were so well satisfied with his report and what he had accomplished that he was tendered a responsible position in Mexico at a salary of $300.00 per month, American money. He accepted; and before returning, asked and was granted a month's leave, to visit his old home on Red Bird; where he had not been since December, 1917.

It was late afternoon. Up the valley where the shadow of the mountain rested, the night creatures were waking up and had begun their chorus, which would grow in volume as the shadow deepened. Jeannette, who had been reading under the shade of a great vine, which formed a natural bower in which she had placed a rude table and chair, came out upon Big Rock, where the light was stronger. She did not reopen her book, but sat meditating-how the memory of John Allen, which had clung to and filled her mind and life for so long, seemed slowly becoming a memory. She had never loved the real John Allen, but a spiritual personality; a creation of her own fancy, which she had placed in the body of John Allen as she had remembered him, and made this creation a living soul; and the combination a standard by which she gauged all men.

She recalled, how five years before she had rejected Sandy Blair, feeling his wooing an insult. Had done it because-he was ignorant-was shiftless-no, but because she measured him by the Allen standard; and since, looking for her Allen, had discouraged every man who had attempted to make love to her.

And Sandy Blair-he had again come into her life. Strange, that now whenever she thought of John, she should think of Sandy. "My books, the creatures of this quiet nook, the trees, the creek, the mountains, G.o.d's altar for my prayers, these are my companions. John is my thought love, with whom I enjoy a mystic union that will last through life-as long as I am faithful. These are my interests, my life, other than teaching, and form and fill it and keep it free from what might otherwise have made it a weary materialism. These have transformed my very common, every-day life, raised me above a dark loneliness to contentment and at rare intervals into the company of the stars. Yet now the change threatens, I do not understand, I seem to feel a slow suffocation of the soul threatening me. Can it mean that-must I find some one to love? Must I quit weaving the web of my life with that of a mystical love?"

She was just beginning to realize that while her mind spun with this fantastic thread of life, another part of her being, the flesh, demanded other company, and held another distaff and spun quite another thread.

She had yet to learn that a perfect love gives not only the mind but the body. That without the giving of both, love ends in darkness; and that to find happiness the two threads must be entwined and followed into the light.

She did not comprehend why now, when she saw John's face, which had always been so distinct, it seemed gradually to fade and merge into Sandy's. Sandy as he looked, when several nights before he had sat and played to her. She was vexed with herself-but even more with Sandy.

Young lady; you are about to have that experience which has come to every woman since Eve. G.o.d's plan is breaking from its chrysalis before you. The slowly fading spirit of John is entering the lists in conflict with Sandy's materialism; it is the conflict of the intangible with the tangible, the memories of yesterday with the hopes of tomorrow. You will act as second for one or the other. Faithful in the start you may follow behind the spirit; but if you follow the way of your sisters, and they go the right way, you will end by wishing you were second to the man who seeks to drive the wraith away. Mayhap you may shift your allegiance early in the conflict-who knows? You do not, nor do I. Take care!

Beware! Your long dream of John may end by kissing Sandy.

"Nonsense."

At this inopportune moment Sandy climbed upon the rock, saying:

"This sh.o.r.e is a nice place, may I set down."

"You are welcome to the seat Mr. Blair, but you must excuse me, I was just going to the house."